Rottenheart
A sapphic gothic retelling of Hamlet, laced with longing, rage and grief. Odette and her best friend Cecilia come of age between two grand houses — one in Hampstead, one in Suffolk, the ancient and imposing Herne House — free to roam, to learn and to love, despite the almost parasitic neediness of Odette's mother, Lydia.
When Lydia inexplicably sickens and dies, a dark veil falls over the household. Odette's father retreats into his study, and her cold, cruel aunt Claudine takes charge.
Rottenheart is a visceral tale of grief, madness and haunting, asking whether we can outrun our suffering or remain forever indebted to the vengeful dead.
Grieving her mother's sudden death and the haste of her father's remarriage.
Odette's once-estranged aunt, who becomes the family's matriarch and Odette's stepmother.
Odette's mother, whose death sets the household unravelling.
Odette's childhood best friend and lover, caught in the middle.